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Senator Rob Portman (R) OH, has suddenly had a change of heart after his son reveals he's gay. Mr. Portman now realizes that everyone should have the ability to love whom they choose.

He has sponsored bills against homosexual marriage and denounced it continually throughout his political career.

He says he sought council from spiritual leaders to now realize that love is the greatest gift, regardless of sexual orientation. I guess I am torn on my thoughts about him. Although I appreciate his change of heart, why wasn't he able to do so without the revelation from his son.

It always amazes me when someone so far on the right, suddenly has a change of heart only because it affects them personally. YEARS ago, a friend of family was a dieheart antiabortion advocate. She attended rallies and would spew her views to any victim within earshot. That all changed when her 15 year daughter became pregnant.

Then it was all about freedom of choice. Imagine that. Do these people lack compassion until it hits home? Where's the empathy for all the different challenges people face without the need to experience it firsthand?

The senator joins a long line of Republicans whose understanding of equal rights and dignity under the law is limited more or less by the boundaries of their immediate families and social circles. While this is good news for the long-term prospects of gay rights it seems unlikely that Republicans will be willing to work productively on other issues until their progeny start coming out as poor, unemployed, uninsured, or undocumented.

Intellectually limited navel gazers, the whole lot...

I'm glad Republicans can change their minds and drop their opposition to LGBT civil rights. There's something so pretentious so elitist that "them" (the gays, the lesbians, the whatever" are only deserving of equal rights when "them" becomes "us" (my family).

Why is it they can be persuaded and RULED by the abstract basis of their Christrian morality, or their traditional cultural beliefs, but cannot be persuaded by the abstract reasoning of equal fucking rights for everyone?

The article rightly points out its a very miserly, selfish abandonment of prejudice. I guess a handsome faygala son at Yale is just too frigging much cognitive dissonance for these types, so they fold...

Well, whatever it takes.

Logged

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Reminds me of the scenes in Lincoln. Where Lincoln isn't going to tolerate or compromise on slavery, on the basis of his moral principal and view of how things should be.... Its just the end of all the fucking games, for him. Line in the sand...

Logged

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

Still weak sauce, if you ask me. This bozo still supports state's rights for declaring what is and isn't a legit relationship - and is also quick to point out that he will not take a leadership role is bringing other reps around.

"Now comes Senator Rob Portman, who also was a possible vice presidential nominee in 2012, and has long been an opponent of same-sex marriage. (In 1999, he even voted against allowing same-sex couples in Washington, D.C., to adopt children.) But he says he’s gained a new perspective, which came from his son telling him that he is gay – two years ago.

“It allowed me to think of this issue from a new perspective, and that’s of a dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have — to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years,” Mr. Portman told reporters, according to Cleveland.com."

If I read this right, his son came out to him two years ago. So why did it take him two years to decide that his gay son was deserving of the same rights as his parents? Some father.

So many applauded Dick Cheney for his support for his daughter. However, when asked about pushing policy changes, he always said he is not the president and he didn't control policy. I always found that dripping with bullshit. Everyone knows how powerful he was. My God, he was the real president. That wasn't just a joke.

If anyone could have pushed change within his party, it was he. He could have persuaded his party to drop the anti-gay platform. I mean, he did persuade everyone to attack the wrong country. He could have easily made the argument that we need to focus on terrorism, and stop the push to make laws discriminating against gays. He could have said we have to show the terrorists just how free we are here. They were talking about freedom daily, and how the terrorists hate us for our freedoms. I think he could have persuaded many. I think he could have stopped Karl Rove from pushing 11 states to put bans on their ballots. By all accounts, he didn't do anything.

So, it's nice to hear you support gay rights and marriage equality. But, what are you doing about it. Words are powerful, and they help others to possibly have a change of heart. But, if you're in a position to do something and actually make change, why didn't you? If everyone remembers, the Cheney's used their daughter's sexuality in a very strange way. I believe it was John Edwards, who when asked about gay rights in the VP debate, made a comment about how the Cheney's love and support their daughter. Well, they went ape shit, saying he was an awful man. I still have a hard time figuring out the insult they felt was spewed at them.

So why did it take him two years to decide that his gay son was deserving of the same rights as his parents?

maybe, keeping a really selfish twist on this, he's trying to rehab his image and look like a not-so-crazy, more respectful Republican so he can keep running for office and have some traction against the Tea Party

Logged

leatherman (aka mIkIE)

All the stars are flashing high above the seaand the party is on fire around you and meWe're gonna burn this disco down before the morning comes- Pet Shop Boys chart from 1992-2015Isentress/Prezcobix

Was there something wrong with the thread I started yesterday morning about the same topic?

Um, dunno.

Maybe Doxie created a catchier title?

But seriously, my apologies. I normally do my best to catch multiple threads on the same subject and merge them (or take some other mod-like action) but sometimes these things are hot and wet and slippery rather elusive and just slip right through my brain-cells fingers.

Hey, what can I say? Brainfog is a bitcha wonderful thinga cucumber sandwich.... what was I talking about?

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Sorry that you got your frilly little panties in a twist. If you want to make this about you not getting enough attention, so be it. Hey everybody, Wolfter started the original thread about Portman. I didn't notice, so I subconsciously started a thread with a title that was an obvious sexual innuendo. Sorry girl. If you don't like it you can stick it innuendo. .

geezums!i thought i was just joining in on a light and friendly conversation.no offense was taken by me but you obviously took my comment personally.lighten up.

As much as I didn't want to do it I removed a few comments from this thread that looked like quotes from people who didn't say what they were quoted as saying . My apology's if my redactions chopped the last part of this thread up making it hard to follow .

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I'm not upset, nothing you clowns have to say could upset me. I clarified in one of my "redacted" posts that I had misquoted and corrected the mistake. God you're all a bunch of passive aggressive Nancy's. Or as Miss P correctly put it, "gaytards." Carry on.

maybe, keeping a really selfish twist on this, he's trying to rehab his image and look like a not-so-crazy, more respectful Republican so he can keep running for office and have some traction against the Tea Party

You are being far too kind. Apparently, for Mr. Portman, it was fine to promote hate and intolerance towards gays, until it affected him personally, within his own family. As he is now "enlightened" he can toss his religious and conservative principles, because they inconvenience his own family. Pure self-interest and nothing more.

Most telling however, is that he still belongs to a political party that actively promotes discrimination against his own son. What a hypocrite!

For me, this is no different from those who are rabidly against abortion, until it impacts one of their own and then "it's a different situation."

Joe

edited to add: I'll be impressed when Mr. Portman publicly apologizes to all the LBGT folks he and his party has discriminated against for the past decades and not a minute sooner.

In between the time that his son disclosed his sexuality and this week's announcement, Mr. Portman found time to voice his lack of support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act during the 112th Congress. Obviously his vice presidential aspirations were more important that year.

In between the time that his son disclosed his sexuality and this week's announcement, Mr. Portman found time to voice his lack of support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act during the 112th Congress. Obviously his vice presidential aspirations were more important that year.

Exactly. It's like Sara Palin, when she was a candidate, promoting tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts for everyone else, EXCEPT for special needs children, because of her son.

after finding out his son was gay (2 years ago) he probably accepted it.he had to realize that unless his son led a very closeted life, the facts would eventually come out.he held off most likely as long as he could for his career.is he a hypocrite?yes.could he have been so disgusted and unaccepting of his son (and others) to turn his back to him (and others)?yes.while i am glad to see he saw the light a bit for his son, i have my doubts about his character as an elected official.the "oh, i get it now" epiphany excuse is used all too often in politics.once they see that the tide of public opinion has shifted beyond the 50% level...a lightbulb magically appears above their heads.

Hee Hee ... Its funny how the repubs are having such profound changes of heart from gay rights to immigration . They are having a couple of election cycles sans the white house to ponder true conservative values and examine their morality .

I used to have my own miraculous attitude adjustments when my mom gave me the opportunity to sit in my room and thank about what I had done , I always emerged from my solitude a better boy .

I disagree that the mothers are the problem. My folks were extremely prejudice against all sorts of folks and yet here I am. I'll agree that the environment in which you were reared can affect your views. However, it's what is inside you that determines the type of person you will become.

As Mary J. Blige said: "Parents; I blame them for nothing and forgive them for everything."

I'm sure my dad "evolved" when I came out. I was the only one in a huge family of many aunts and uncles and many cousins.. There was a never seen older cousin, though, living on the other side of the country, who was lesbian. I never heard a nice thing about gays or lesbians all my youth and teens it was standard derision and sarcasm about fruits. I came out in the 80s, no one said a peep and invited all my boyfriends since to everything. It was pretty freaking strange if you think about it that suddenly everyone was cool. But that was the big change I guess for working class Dems on the East Coast?? West coast? Everywhere??? All the favorite liberal media and entertainment just said this is normal now, deal. So is this finally going to happen to the Republicans, some day? A big flip? I guess its neither here nor there, since what is needed is legislation and Supreme Court decsions, for equal rights, not the support of people who are in the Republican Party.. I still think they'll only flip after the Supreme Court shames them into it.

Logged

“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

I must come from a strange family. There were never fag jokes made, either by my parents or my older brother when I was growing up. And I don't mean about me, I mean about anyone. Not even on television. Then again, nothing sexual was talked about so why would they?

So is this finally going to happen to the Republicans, some day? A big flip? I guess its neither here nor there, since what is needed is legislation and Supreme Court decsions, for equal rights, not the support of people who are in the Republican Party.. I still think they'll only flip after the Supreme Court shames them into it.

Bingo Mecch,

Why do you think so many Republicans are supporting the overturning of DOMA and Prop 8? Because when the SC decides that discrimination against gays IS unconstitutional, the Republicans can then complain about activist judges.

I must come from a strange family. There were never fag jokes made, either by my parents or my older brother when I was growing up. And I don't mean about me, I mean about anyone. Not even on television. Then again, nothing sexual was talked about so why would they?

Not me. I always heard about my cousin John and his "friend." Somehow this was an abomination against god and country and was always spoken of with very demeaning language. It wasn't until I was in High School and went to visit my cousins and finally met John's "friend." No wonder the family couldn't talk about it. Not only was John a big old girl, his "friend" was black. Oh the horrors! Clutch the pearls!

That's when I finally knew that my families values would never be mine.

Here's what folks like Sarah are concerned about, when it comes to freedom. The party still doesn't get it. Many say the parties are the same-- the lesser of two evils statement you hear some say. But, the differences are day and night. Dems focus on economic and equality issues, while repubs focus on someone taking your Big Gulp away.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — A panel at the Conservative Political Action Committee on Republican minority outreach exploded into controversy on Friday afternoon, after an audience member defended slavery as good for African-Americans.

The exchange occurred after an audience member from North Carolina, 30-year-old Scott Terry, asked whether Republicans could endorse races remaining separate but equal. After the presenter, K. Carl Smith of Frederick Douglass Republicans, answered by referencing a letter by Frederick Douglass forgiving his former master, the audience member said “For what? For feeding him and housing him?”

ThinkProgress spoke with Terry, who sported a Rick Santorum sticker and attended CPAC with a friend who wore a Confederate Flag-emblazoned t-shirt, about his views after the panel. Terry maintained that white people have been “systematically disenfranchised” by federal legislation.

When asked by ThinkProgress if he’d accept a society where African-Americans were permanently subservient to whites, he said “I’d be fine with that.” He also claimed that African-Americans “should be allowed to vote in Africa,” and that “all the Tea Parties” were concerned with the same racial problems that he was.At one point, a woman challenged him on the Republican Party’s roots, to which Terry responded, “I didn’t know the legacy of the Republican Party included women correcting men in public.”

Pretty stunning turnaround for someone who was so damn uptight about it before! I was glad to see Mrs. Clinton come out in support of equal rights, but that wasn't as newsworthy to me because I always knew she supported equality in her heart of hearts.

But to have a far-right looney Republican who was so against gay equality to come out in favor of it, that surprised me, pleasantly. It just goes to show, as I've told my friends, who have asked me about being gay, that if someone close to you in your family comes to you and tells you "I'm gay", then it would make most sane people take a step back and realize that wait a minute, I love this person, as my child, and they aren't some devil incarnate or Kim Jong Un or something.

Senator Portman, I still don't agree with you on most things, but thanks for coming out in support of your son. I have not told my dad that I'm gay either, because I don't come from a touchy-feely family, and I'm not touchy-feely myself, but it was a good example to set for the rest of the crazy far-right anti-gay crowd.

Senator Portman should have done this way back, because his son probably struggled with this and wondered if his dad would reject him. But it was nice to see a republican show some balls on gay rights for once.

The rest of the Republican Party, at least the Tea Baggers, just don't seem to get it. Gay marriage is good for family values, which they claim to support. Millions of orphan children don't have a home, and many gay couples want to adopt, but in many cases their relationships are not recognized legally.

The track record on straight marriage isn't all that great. 50% divorce rate, HELLO! So yeah, the family values crowd should embrace us. I'm not personally in a relationship, as I like my single life, but I wish more people in high places would ditch their special interests and speak out for their loved ones who are gay.

Being gay is not a choice anymore than race or ethnicity is. We want the same thing that others want, most of us are law abiding, productive, and hard workers.If those radicals out there claim they don't approve of gay people, what they are really saying is, they don't approve of their own family and friends, because everyone has a gay friend or relative.

So bravo for coming out and supporting your son Senator Portman, if a little but late..Now try and make your tea bagger buddies see the light!